Storm In My Heart
by Kinomi
Summary: Just a short sweet Goten/Marron story I wrote for my pal Marron ^_^ Reading & Reviewing always appreciated.


DISCLAIMER: Repeat after me… Don't own them, Don't make money off of them…

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is just a short sweet one shot I wrote for my friend Marron, who loves Goten & Marron fic's as much as I do. When you are done here go read her DBSZ-Scooby Doo crossover fic…it's verrrryy funny. Shameless plug over 

***

STORM IN MY HEART 

The freezing night wind cut through Marron's winter coat like it was made of tissue paper, chilling her to the bone.  She pulled it tighter around her as she walked home from work, burrowing her face deeper into her wool scarf to try and warm her nose.  It was frigid days like these that she wondered why she had moved to North Capitol City in the first place.  Then she remembered, it was easy to disappear here.  No one would look for a girl raised on a tropical island to be living in the cold mountains.  And the only one who would possibly come looking for her hated the cold as much as she did. 

She crossed the snowy street her boots crunching in the light drifts. Normal people would drive themselves to work or take the bus rather than walk the three miles home in the snow, but Marron wasn't normal.  Normal people don't purposefully look for ways to complicate their lives; normal people don't fall in love with their best friends and finally decide to tell them the day they get engaged to someone else.  She still cringed when she thought of the sheer stupidity of that singular move in her life.  I lost a friend forever that day, she thought as she pulled her collar up and her watch cap down to protect her ears – she was almost starting to regret chopping her hair off short when her ears and neck got so cold.  But she was glad of the change, like shedding her old life. Besides winter can't last forever, except maybe in my heart.

She paused as she passed the bakery eyeing the racks of fresh bread hungrily.  Reaching into the pocket of her pea coat with numb fingers she checked her funds and mentally calculated if she would have enough for some rolls and hot tea after this week's rent.  Deciding to treat herself, she could always work an extra shift at the bar this week to make up for the lousy tips she'd been getting, she went in.  She sat at the small table by the window and pulled her cap and scarf off, running her fingers briefly through her short shaggy locks.  Her hair had been one of her best features, his favorite thing about her, a waist length cascade of pale cornsilk blonde. She had sold her hair for the money to travel to North Capitol City, the farthest place on the map from the Paozu Mountains and Kame House she could find on that fateful day when she ran away from her life.  She wrapped her hands around the steaming mug of tea, nodding her thanks to the old Usagijin baker who watched her carefully from where he deftly kneaded bread dough with his paws behind the counter.  She turned her head and stared out at the swirling snow as she remembered that day…had it only been three months ago?  She closed her eyes trying to keep the painful memories from overwhelming her but the wound was still too fresh no matter how she tried to harden her heart.

***

_They sat on the beach together one warm evening outside Kame House burying their feet in the sand and watching the waves.  The young man with the unruly mane of black spikes falling to his shoulders and the dark laughing eyes stared thoughtfully out toward the sea, a small smile gracing his lips as his companion bit her own in indecision as she watched him.  He'd been one of her best friends all of her life, even if they hadn't seen all that much of each other growing up, their friendship had deepened as they got older. They spent a lot of time together just hanging out when Goten wasn't with his current girlfriend of the month, more time even than Goten spent with Trunks.  He'd just broken up with the last one a week before and had seemed more torn up about it than usual. Marron had been there for him like she always was with comforting words and a shoulder to cry on.  _

_Marron felt her heart beat faster as she looked at him, she didn't know exactly when she had fallen in love with him but she had wrestled with the decision of telling him for many months, waiting for a time when he was single and available to tell him how she felt.  Goten looked over at her and gave her a fond grin as he reached out and ran a strand of her loose hair between his fingers.  Goten had always liked playing with her hair, even when they were children._

_"What would I do without you Marron-chan?" He asked as he smiled at her.  Marron felt her throat dry up as her brain was screaming at her to tell him. _

_"G-Goten-kun, there's something I need to talk to you about…something I need to tell you, and it's kind of important." She stammered as he turned obsidian eyes to her china blue ones._

_"Hontou ni? I have something big to tell you too." Goten said grinning even wider.  Marron faltered a moment._

_"Oh? You do? Nani ka?" She asked distractedly.  Goten bumped her lightly with his shoulder._

_"You first." He said and leaned back onto his elbows in the sand and looked up at her through the unruly locks of hair that fell in his eyes.  Absently Marron reached out and brushed them back with shaking fingers as nervousness and adrenaline ran full tilt through her bloodstream.  Marron took a deep breath to calm her nerves, she didn't know how to just come out and tell her very best friend in the world that she was in love with him.  She bit her lip in hesitation again as he looked at her expectantly._

_"S'ok Marron-chan…we're best friends, you can tell me anything." He said encouragingly. She tangled her fingers together in her lap and focused on his chin rather than his eyes._

_"I love you Goten." She said and looked up into his deep eyes waiting for his reaction.  It wasn't what she expected; he gave her his trademark goofy grin, his face open and innocent._

_"That's sweet Marron-chan…I love you too." He said still looking at her keenly.  Marron blinked a moment until she realized Goten didn't understand what she meant, that he was still waiting for her to tell him what was so important, that in his sweet way he thought she meant like a friend. His eyes widened in surprise as she leaned over and kissed him sliding her fingers into the ebony locks at the back of his neck._

_She closed her eyes as she kissed him taking advantage of his shock to tentatively brush the tip of her tongue over his lips until they parted.  He dropped from his elbows back onto the sand, Marron following him down so as not to break the kiss.  She felt her heart skip a beat the moment he started kissing her back.  His arms went around her and held her to his chest tightly as he deepened the kiss his velvety tongue stroking hers and exploring her mouth._

_"I mean I'm **in** love with you Son Goten…" She whispered when the kiss broke. "I've been in love with you for a very long time." She confessed with a nervous smile and looked into his eyes…his sad, confused, and longing eyes. He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear and pulled her back to his lips for another lingering kiss._

_"Oh Marron…why didn't you ever tell me how you felt sooner?" He sighed sadly, and she felt the first twinges of unease._

_"I'm telling you now…" She said quietly, her stomach clenching and unclenching like a nervous fist as he moved away from her to sit up.  Marron pulled back, pulling her knees to her chest watching him as he faced away from her and ran a hand carelessly through his hair._

_"I wish I'd known before…if only…" He said so quietly Marron could barely hear him.  He was quiet as he studied the luminous frothy waves a few minutes._

_"If only what Goten-kun?" She forced out and Goten looked back over his shoulder at her and she saw his eyes were overly bright, the darkness of his eyes accentuating the first glistening of tears._

_"If only I'd known you felt the same months ago… weeks ago… even yesterday…if only it wasn't too late." Goten told her quietly and turned toward her reaching out for her.  Marron pulled away and scrambled to her feet her throat constricting and tears stinging her eyes._

_"Too late?" She parroted when she could get her throat to open up enough to allow air to pass. Goten stood before her, tall and broad and handsome and so close, yet she felt the gulf between them opening up to swallow her as his words echoed in her head…_'too late, too late…'

_"I'm engaged now. We got back together two days ago." He said softly and Marron felt it, the moment her heart cracked and she closed her eyes briefly against the pain.  _

_"Then let me be the first to congratulate you Goten-kun." She told him and tried to smile for him as she stepped forward and gave him a brisk hug, letting go of him before he could even hug her back. "I'm sure you will be very happy together…Gambatte."_

_"Marron…I can't marry her now. Not now…" Goten said plaintively. _

_"You can, and you will…you made a commitment. I won't let you break it on my account… forget about what I said. I shouldn't have told you anyway." Marron said with false bravado and an even falser smile._

_"But Marron, I feel the same way…I lo-" Goten started as Marron cut him off sharply._

_"Don't say it! I don't want to hear that from you!" She cried as the tears threatened to start falling from her eyes and she sucked it up. "You're right Goten…it's too late for us.  So let's just forget this ever happened and you'll get married and be happy and I'll just…" She trailed off even as her mind finished the sentence with 'love you for the rest of my life.'_

_"Get over you." Is what came out of her mouth and she pushed past him and ran into the house, brushing off her parent's questions and locked herself in her room, staring dry eyed at the ceiling as her heart slowly turned to stone._

***

Yoji, the Usagijin baker watched as the slender blonde girl sipped her tea staring thoughtfully out the window at the snow flurries, unmindful of the tears that now flowed freely from her eyes.  Yoji noticed and he twitched his whiskers in sympathy.  He had many customers but none were as memorable to him as the quiet sad young woman who stopped by late every other night to have a cup of tea and a roll, usually from the day old basket he had that were reduced in price, carefully counting out her zenni.  Yoji had grown soft on her; she was a good kid and always had a smile and a kind word for the old Usagijin, complimenting him always on his wares, even when slightly stale.  He glanced up again at her profile as she leaned her chin in her hand.  She was unusually sad tonight turning a heavy cream-colored envelope end over end in her hand. 

"Doush'tano Yoji-san?" She asked quietly without looking up at him.  They were the only ones in the bakery at this time on a snowy night.  Yoji wiped his paws on his apron and started putting some fresh goods in a bag.

"Nanigoto desu ka?" He asked whiskers twitching.  She raised her eyes to him briefly, eyes so old in such a young beautiful face.  Her short ragged haircut accentuated the clean lines of her face, her wide tip tilted eyes, her pointed chin and the delicate stem of her neck.  She looked fragile as she studied the envelope in her pale fingers.

"Hmmmm…" She murmured and shrugged.  A vague movement of her slim shoulders under the ratty blue green sweater she was swimming in.  Yoji could tell that she was hungry; he also knew that the Kitsunejin who owned the bar she worked at was a cheapskate of the first order and probably paid her very little.  Sighing softly Yoji added a few more buns to the already bulging bag.  He wrapped it up and took it over to her.

"Here." The old Usagijin said gruffly thrusting the bulging bag at her.  She looked up questioningly.

"Yoji-san?"  She asked taking the bag from him.  He waved a paw dismissively.

"It's nothing…just cleaned out the day old bin is all." He lied, he had filled the bag with the freshest of his wares, and some were even still warm.  She gave him a tremulous smile.

"Doumo arigotou gozaimasu, Yoji-san." She said and bowed her head briefly.  Yoji picked up the cream colored envelope from where it had fallen to the floor when she took the bag from him.  Yoji turned it over in his paws his nose and jaws working.  It looked like a wedding invitation judging from the weight of the paper and the size of the envelope.  Marron looked pained as the old Usagijin looked at Goten's wedding invitation.

"Wedding?" Yoji asked smoothing the fur of his ears with a free paw.  Marron nodded.  Yoji looked at her carefully. "Yours?" He asked insightfully.

"A friend's, Yoji-san…just a friend's." She told him.  He could see the hurt in her eyes that told him it had been more than a friend. 

"Is that why you left home?" The Usagijin asked finally sitting at the table with her.  She looked away.

"What makes you think that Yoji-san?"  Yoji shrugged, there were many small clues about her that said runaway: her old clothes, her lack of money, the way she had just shown up one day out of the blue, and she obviously wasn't used to the cold.

"If I had stayed he might have actually not gone through with it…he might have called off his wedding on the account of me.  I couldn't let him do that." She told him softly.

"So you ran away so this friend could save face and sacrificed your own happiness instead." He said thoughtfully stroking the fur of his chin.  "Very noble for one so young…and very stupid I think."

Marron blinked at him in surprise and the old Usagijin chuckled at her and patted her hand with a paw.

"You love him, ne?" Marron nodded. "And he loves you?"

"I don't know…we were best friends."  Marron said folding her arms around the bag of bread defensively eyes lowered.  "Even if he does-did it's too late now."

"It's never too late little one." Yoji told her gently. Marron gave him a crooked smile and gestured vaguely at the clock on the bakery wall.

"It's about sixteen hours too late now Yoji-san…he was to be married today.  If I was truly his friend I should have been there cheering him on and wishing him good fortune and a long happy life with his new bride.  But I couldn't do it…" She said ruefully tapping her finger on the wedding invitation.  "Now that he's married I suppose I can go home now, but I'm just not sure I can step back into my old life and pretend nothing has changed when everything has.  Ah, Yoji-san…I should have never told him I loved him.  I should have kept it to myself – now I've lost a friend."

The old Usagijin sat quietly and let her talk; it was the most the young woman had ever said to him at once and she looked like she had needed to get it out.  He turned toward the window his whiskers and nose twitching anxiously, even through the glass he could smell the snowstorm coming.

"Speaking of home little one, you had best get going so you don't get caught in the storm." Yoji told her.  Marron looked out the window at the gently falling snow and raised her eyebrow questioningly. Yoji nodded sagely.

"Storm's coming." 

***

After thanking the kindly Baker for the gift again, Marron hurried the last mile home as the snow and wind got heavier pushing against her as she headed for the tiny two-room dome she lived in on the northern edge of town.  She clutched the bag of bread to her chest as she walked into the wind; at least her hands and face were warm now, as Yoji had insisted she take his mittens and an extra scarf wrapping her in it until only her eyes were visible.

She had been carrying Goten's wedding invitation around in her pocket for the last two and a half months ever since her mother had forwarded it on to her.  She had wrestled with the decision on whether or not to go until the RSVP date had long since passed.  Ultimately she had been a coward, she just couldn't go and watch him marry another when she still loved him so much – when he was still a bright flame behind her eyelids, the last thing she thought of at night, and the first upon waking.  Rather than make him choose, she had run away effectively removing herself from the equation.  She often wondered if she had made the right decision but it was far too late for second thoughts.  Who even knew if she went home now if he would still want to be her friend? He would be too busy with his new wife to spend time with her and probably would be uncomfortable as well. No, in the long run this was for the best – she only hoped he would understand someday.

She rounded the last corner before home thankfully as the wind picked up chilling her to the bone.  She'd be very lucky not to catch her death of a cold being out on a night like this.  All she wanted to do was build a fire in her tiny fireplace and climb into her bed and pull the covers up over her head and sleep for about a week.  She could see her little house up ahead and hurried even more, anything to get out of this miserable cold.  She ducked her head against a gust of wind that blew snow into her eyes as she turned up the walk to her door, snowflakes sticking to her eyelashes.

She slowed as she approached the arch shaped entry alcove to her house and squinted through the snow and the dark.  There was a dark shape huddled in the corner against the door trying to get out of the cold, and it looked way to big to be an animal.  She edged closer even as she was rooting in her pocket with her mittened hand to find her house key.  

Just as she was about to nudge whatever it was with her foot it unfolded from the huddled ball it was in and turned its pale face toward her yawning hugely.

"'Bout time you got home Marron-chan…it's gettin' chilly out here." Goten told her.

***

"What are you doing here? It's supposed to be your wedding day." Marron asked him when her shock had worn off and she let him inside.  He gave her a sheepish grin as he stood there in his tuxedo all wet from the snow. He raised his ki to dry himself off before taking his jacket off to hang it up.

"I couldn't do it."  He said apologetically and went to her fireplace, hunkering down to make a fire and heat up the small dome.  With numb fingers Marron pulled off her wet coat and hat hanging them up as she tried to process the implications of him being here when he should be on his honeymoon with his new wife.

"What do you mean 'couldn't do it'?  Why not?"  She asked stunned even as she automatically went to put tea on, the mundane task calming her as her mind reeled.

"Wrong bride." Was all he said shrugging as he finished starting the fire and stood looking around the tiny room.  "You don't have much furniture Marron-chan…there's nowhere to sit." Goten said

"Gomen nasai…I wasn't exactly expecting company." She said sardonically and poured two cups of tea.  Goten had found the bag of bread and was happily munching as he sat in the middle of her futon cross-legged.

"S'ok, you got a bed. Important stuffs taken care of." He said grinning as he stuffed his face.  Marron let the implication slide, she had a far dirtier mind than Goten did – he probably meant the remark innocently.  She handed him his cup of tea and since there was nowhere else to sit, sat near him on the futon. He finished off the bread and drank his tea in one huge gulp before turning to Marron.  She was nursing her cup in her hands her brow furrowed.  He reached out and touched her short hair; his was longer now, ruffling it.  She didn't pull back or react, just chewed her lip nervously.

"You cut all your hair off…" He pointed out the obvious as he brushed his fingers through it.

"Very astute of you." She replied then sighed. "Goten…why did you come?" She asked plaintively.  Goten scooted a little closer to her on the futon, close enough he could put an arm around her as she put her tea down.

"I told you, I couldn't go through with it…I know you wanted me to and I tried, but I just couldn't." Goten said.  Marron closed her eyes.

"You walked out on your wedding?" 

"Not exactly…I just didn't show up." Goten said sheepishly and Marron squeezed her eyes even tighter shut.

"Oh, Goten…what have you done?  They'll come looking for you, you know."  Marron told him quietly.

"They'll never find me here." He said confidently.

"You found me here…and I didn't particularly want to be found." She pointed out.  Goten gave her a lopsided grin and squeezed her shoulder.

"You can't hide from me…no matter where you go in the world I'll always be able to find you."  Marron narrowed her eyes at him.

"My mother told you didn't she?" Marron accused.  Goten laughed guiltily one hand behind his head as Marron swore softly.

"It's not too late Goten…we can fix this.  You can go back and apologize, I'm sure she'll forgive you." Marron said speaking quickly her mind trying to think through a solution.  Goten tipped her chin up and brought his lips down on hers kissing her thoroughly one hand on the back of her neck.

"I don't wanna fix it.  I'm right where I want to be now…with you."  He said softly and kissed her again.

"But Goten…" She protested.

"Why would you want me to marry someone else Marron? Don't you love me?" He asked his dark eyes confused as a puppy's.  Against her better judgment Marron reached out and touched his cheek leaning toward him to brush her lips over his lightly.

"Of course I love you Goten…" She said softly and his face brightened.  "But I can't take my happiness at the expense of another's…It's wrong.  You should go back, you should forget about me."

"You would let me, wouldn't you? You'd let me marry someone else and be unhappy. I want to be with you…I love you."  Goten told her pulling her closer into his embrace.  Frustrated, Marron tried to wiggle away.

"Goten this is all my fault!  If I hadn't said anything you wouldn't be in this mess…how do you know you would be unhappy with her?" Marron wailed.  "You asked her to marry you before I told you how I felt…I've ruined everything!"

"I always loved you, Marron.  I just figured I had no chance and you always only looked at me like a friend or a brother.  I asked her to marry me cause I loved her best of all the girls I dated but every girl always got compared to you.  I feel bad I'm hurting her cause I do really care about her, but it comes down to a choice of who I want to be with and that's you." Goten said wisely.  "You say you never shoulda told me you love me and I say thank Dende that you did…you're braver than me Marron, I don't know if I would have ever worked up the nerve to tell you how I felt."

Marron started to protest again when Goten silenced her with a small kiss.  "You're a sweet caring wonderful person Marron and I know you don't want to hurt anybody, that's why you went away…but I think this one time it's okay to be selfish, it's okay for us to want to be together.  She'll get over me and find someone else, but I couldn't marry her in good faith knowing I couldn't give her the best of myself.  That would have been worse." 

"Ano…" Marron relented. "I still think you should straighten things out with her since you stood her up."  Goten grinned and rubbed her nose with his as he pulled Marron closer.

"Aa, I stood up my wedding, not my fiancée…I talked to her before I left and explained things."  Marron cringed.

"Was she terribly upset and angry?" 

"Not as much as you would think…what does that say to you?" Goten asked with a puzzled expression.  Marron pulled his face to hers for a kiss.

"That she's a fool to let you get away…I won't ever make that mistake." Marron said and wrapped her arms around his neck as Goten pulled her into his lap.  "I love you, Goten."

"I love you too…will you come back home with me when the storm is over?" Goten asked with a glance at the swirling blizzard outside.

"What's the matter? Don't you like it here?" Marron asked with a slow smile.  Goten shook his head.

"It's too cold here." He complained despite the warmth of the fire.  "I need you to keep me warm."  He purred and lowered her to the futon, covering her body with his as the wind screamed outside and the fire popped and crackled in the fireplace. Marron gave him a welcoming smile as his hands began to move on her and she lifted herself to his touch and his kiss.

"Well, I suppose we have to find something to do until the storm has passed."  Marron said against his lips, and while outside the tempest raged, all was calm within.

***

OWARI


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